Take to Heart
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1449: After having heard what Quinn had to say about her to Santana, Rachel wishes to confess some things of her own. - Runaway Bride series


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 68th cycle. Now cycle 69!_

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**"Take to Heart"  
Rachel/Quinn  
Runaway Bride series  
_(no series listing yet; sequel to Face to Face)_  
**

The long headache was gone. They'd written that big test, and now it was out of their hair. As had become custom, with little to no thought required, they would get into Rachel's car and drive off together; the little thought required was whether they would go to Rachel's or Quinn's, and even that seemed to grow more instinct-bound every day. This time they had gone to Rachel's.

The ride from McKinley had mostly been spent discussing the big test, how it had gone, what questions had given them more trouble… They'd stayed on the subject, though there was something else on their minds, too. They hadn't yet had a chance to discuss the text situation. Rachel had been the one to suggest Quinn tell Brittany they would talk in the morning, so she would know that this had happened. What Quinn didn't know was that Rachel had seen her head off to find Santana and, worried about what might happen there, she'd followed, staying back just enough so that she wouldn't be seen and, in the process, overhearing everything her blond girlfriend said.

Rachel had needed not short of her deepest set strength to concentrate and not let her mind float off during her test. But now it was done, and now they had arrived back to her house, and she had some things to say, too. She led Quinn up to her room by force of habit, even though she knew her fathers weren't home and they would have privacy anywhere in the house. She shut the door, turned back to Quinn, and she kissed her, the way she'd been wanting to all day. Her poor hand, the one she'd hurt not long ago, the one Quinn had looked after, she held it up to the other girl's face now, smiling.

"What?" Quinn smiled back.

"I have a bit of a confession to make," Rachel told her.

"Oh?" Quinn wasn't worried.

"I kind of spied on you earlier. Not intentionally," she specified. "Actually I was kind of standing by in case you needed back-up… with Santana…" she let Quinn figure out the rest.

"Oh…" she bowed her head, still beaming. Rachel traced her fingers down from her cheek to her chin, so she would look back up, and so she could kiss her again. There was something about kissing Quinn that didn't feel the same from the other people she'd ever kissed before. Someone might have said that it was because the others had been boys and Quinn wasn't, but she knew that wasn't it.

"I still get a bit…" Rachel took a breath. "It really touched me, what you said."

"I meant it," Quinn promised, looking into her girlfriend's eyes.

"I know you did. It made me cry," she admitted.

"Did it?" Quinn asked, like she would have wanted to wipe the tears away, if they'd still been there.

"In a good way," Rachel promised. "You always know exactly what to say, to make my heart beat faster." Quinn smirked, placing a careful hand over her heart. Rachel held it in place with hers.

"Mine feels like that every time you sing, especially when I know it's for me." Feeling Rachel's heart under her hand, Quinn could feel her own almost matching its rhythm. It filled her with courage and need and that tiny bit of dare that had been moving them both further along. She knew if she moved her hand, Rachel's would follow along, and she smiled. Quinn leaned in for a kiss, steering her slowly until they could lie down together, as they'd done the day they'd decided to tell their parents. Only this time it would be her calling the shots.

Their hands were still pressed over Rachel's heart, and Quinn moved them both until her palm was at Rachel's breast. The hand on top of hers trembled. They were picking up where they'd left off, only with a twist. Every touch she gave, every finger and muscle she flexed, she'd feel them twice over, direct them too, if she wished. By the way she'd reclaimed Quinn's mouth, she had to guess she was enjoying herself. There was so much she wanted to do, so many other places she wanted to let her hands find, and the most thrilling part about that was she was getting the feeling Rachel wasn't exactly unresponsive to the idea.

"Hey…" she'd breathed into the kiss, and Rachel had opened her eyes. Everything they'd done so far had been locked in to respect and request. When she reached down to the hem of her shirt, she waited until she saw a definitive nod before taking hold and pulling it over her head. Halfway between lying down and sitting up, Rachel had reached over and done the same for her.

"I don't mind if Santana does tell?" Rachel breathed.

"You don't?" Quinn asked, smiling.

"If it gets out, then it'll be out, and we'll deal with it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Rachel promised, as Quinn saw she'd been reaching behind her back. She took a quivering breath when the clasp released. Her cheeks flushed ablaze, and Rachel was just as taken, seeing the look in her girlfriend's eyes when she tossed her bra aside. There was nothing to compare to what she felt, what they both felt, when Quinn's hand returned, with skin to skin contact. It gave Rachel that push to want to do the same for her, to let her feel what she was feeling, and she reached up to unclasp the blonde's bra as well. It joined the first on the ground, and Quinn came down to rest flush against her.

"You okay?" Quinn could feel her chest rising and falling against hers.

"More than okay," Rachel assured her. "You know… the thing with taking it slow… When we do…" she glanced down.

"Go further?" Quinn helped her out.

"Yeah… We get closer, and we still have… so much left," she breathed. Quinn doubted it could have been said any better. But then it also opened the way for her to offer a new request, pulling herself back just a bit.

"Do you think, after everything today, we might try and take things just one step further?" she asked, her fingers dancing up Rachel's stomach at every word, ending her question as one of those fingers grazed its way to one pointed nipple. Rachel breathed deep at this, and she nodded. Quinn matched that nod, assuring that this went both ways before kissing her, first on the lips, and then making her way down the panting chest to where up until then only her hands had dared to go.

THE END

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******A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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